OBA Heartmade Goodies: Making Fresh Egg Pasta on a Fall Day...

Fall days are great for cooking, especially cooking something warm and rich like pasta.

This was my first time making fresh pasta in class. At first it seemed difficult, but soon after I got the exact measurement for the basic dough, I found it quite easy.

Freshe Egg Pasta yeld 1.5 lb

1lb Bread flour (I used half bread and half AP)
5 eggs
Pinch Salt
1/2 fl oz Olive oil (optional, if used you will probably need a bit more flour to reach the right consistency dough)

Boil a big stock pot with season water. It will be used to cook the pasta.

Mix all of these ingredients in a food processor until combined and finish mixing it by hand. This way you won't develop to much gluten in the dough.

Flatten and square the dough, wrap tightly and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

Once chilled and relaxed, cut 1/3 of the dough with your bench scraper and place the rest back in the cooler. You will be using only 1/3 at a time.

Roll it out to a long rectangle thin enough to pass through the widest part of the pasta machine, either # 1 or #7 depending on how your pasta machine is set up.

Start rolling your dough through the machine diminishing the # of wideness each time it goes all the way through. Keep the edges sharp with no cuts. If you get an outside rip on your dough, gently cut a straight strip with your pizza cutter. This way you will avoid the rip to grow.

When you reach the desired thickness, pass it twice through this thickness and finally pass it through the strip cutting part to make the Fettuccine or Angel Hair strips.

Place each patch of pasta strips in the desired sizes with a bit of flour on top of a sheet with parchment paper.

It can be held for boiling.

Meanwhile make the sauce of your choice.

One of my favorite sauces is the Pesto Sauce which meats a "pasted" sauce in Italian. The correct way of making it is with a Mortar and Pestle. If you don't have one you can make it in a food processor.

Pesto Sauce Yield 3 cups

4 Qt Fresh basil leaves (chopped)
1.5 cups Olive oil
4 oz Pine nuts (Walnuts can be used if you don't have Pine nuts)
10 Garlic cloves (crushed)
1.5 tsp Salt
5 oz Parmesan cheese grated
1.5 oz Romano cheese grated

Paste the basil, oil, nuts, garlic, salt, keeping the coarse texture.

Transfer the paste into a bowl and stir in the cheese.

Add tho the hot pasta that just came out of the steaming water.

Serve with additional grated cheese.

You can also serve your pasta with a Tomato Sauce, Tomato and Meat Sauce or Tomato Basil Sauce.

Tomato Sauce

Sweat some onions and garlic with a low smoke point oil, salt and pepper.

Add your chopped tomatoes or good canned tomatoes if your tomatoes are not in season. Add some dried oregano and whatever other spice you desire.

Once your tomatoes are very soft and falling apart, turning into sauce, remove from the heat, add some extra virgin olive oil (if you want an extra flavor add some garlic flavored olive oil) and finish it with some fresh herbs.

Tomato Basil Sauce

Follow the procedure above but add dried basil leaves in the beginning of the cooking process and lots of fresh basil leaves at the very last end of the cooking process, when you are about to serve your dish.

Tomato and Meat Sauce

Brown your ground meat on a large sauce pot with a bit of high smoke point oil, salt and pepper. Do not crowd your pot with meat. This would make the meat's juices and blood turn the meat gray and would keep it from browning in a Maillard Reaction way. You want the juices from your meat to evaporate quickly in the hot pan when they are released.

Once your meat is browned, remove it from the pot, add a bit of red wine to deglaze it now add your chopped onions, crushed garlic, seasonings, and chopped tomatoes. Mix it well so that your tomatoes release their juices and let it simmer until the tomatoes become soft and saucy. Adjust for flavor and finish it with a bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Rolling out the pasta dough sheet.